March in a few words/photos...

Well, I hit the ground running. God is so good in all that He is doing at LCH. I just wanted to bring out some highlights that happened in March.

Social Inquiries:
The Lord has seen it the right time to expand LCH and bring hope into the lives of 20 new little girls. Wow!

People often ask me how we get our children... Everything must go through the government. Throughout March, Edward and I have been very busy doing social inquires with the Probation Officers. These are people similar to CPS.

Some of the girls were recommended by pastors of our church plants (bringing awareness to some of the most desperate cases that they had within their churches). Others were recommended by partner ministries. The probation officer visits each home to assess the living conditions, arrangements, education opportunities and general vulnerability of the child. Based on these findings they then either approve or disapprove of the need for institutional care for the child. Papers are then filed with the local magistrate and taken to the courts for the judge to see the child and hand over guardianship.

Many of the girls have lost parents to AIDS. About half of them are total orphans, while the others are partial orphans who are under the care of a sickly mother or passed on to an auntie or grandmother in hopes of better care. Three of the children are coming from a nearby babies orphanage (that our LCH children have visited before).

I know that God has hand selected each of these new children to be at LCH. Now, we are just waiting for the local magistrate to be in office and approve the paperwork. Pray with us for timeliness in this process. We are all so excited to meet our new sisters!

Practice:

The kids have been doing serious practice and training for the sub-county track competition. Each morning I would find them in their field with their teachers, running relays or doing the long jump. One day we even had a neighboring school join us in the field for a friendly competition.

Those who were not running were busy cheering... or playing.
Brenda Babirye with two community students.

Me and Beatrice- who qualified for District competition in long jump.

Being silly

The cheering department

Dentist:

Nurse Pam and Gettu organized for a dentist to come and check the dental health of all of our children.

Later in the afternoon, the dentist held a dental hygiene seminar to tell children and staff about the mouth/teeth, proper brushing and care, and diseases or problems that can come if they don't brush. The children and staff were very receptive and asked many questions to gain further insight.

LCHPS- Community Children:

God is doing great things at our school and many people are hearing about the success our first set of P7 candidates. This year we have about 70 community children enrolled in school with our LCH students. It is fun our children make friends from outside.

The nursery school is filled with new faces of small little children.
Soon, many of our 20 new little girls will join them in class.

God's hand at LCH:

The girls hostel is in its finishing stages. It looks so "smart" and the older girls cannot wait to "shift" (move in)." All of the beds, mattresses, etc have been bought so we are expecting things to be in order by the end of this week.

The Local Management Committee took a "field trip" to the farm land to gain a better perspective on what and where the land is.

Plowing has begun in preparations for the rainy season.

My life:
When I arrived back in Uganda my house had one more person than when I had left it. Elise is my new housemate. But not for much longer, as she is leaving at the beginning of May (her commitment was 4 months). Even so, the four of us have been having a lot of fun together.

One weekend me, Emily, and Elise decided to go hiking half-way up Mt. Wanale. Starting bright and early at 6am, in attempts to stay out of the sun for the whole hike, we climbed the foothills of the mountain for about 45 minutes. Passing through villages and by many houses with little kids shouting, "Mzungu, how are you?"

It is so beautiful up the mountain! Things are so peaceful and so lush. Life is simple.

Once we had reached the half-way point, we climbed up a big boulder to see the view of Mbale town. Slowly some little friends started joining us. This little girl totally showed me up as we were getting off the boulder. While I scooted down using all my limbs to brace me, she simply walked down, no hesitation, with a baby on her back and a knife in her hands. She has had a lot more practice, what can I say?!